Way Behind -- November 15, 2016

To say the least, I am overwhelmed. It will take me some time to get caught up. Some thoughts about the blog:

• it remains a "Bakken" blog but there are fewer stories for me to post on the Bakken for two reasons
• the Bakken is a bit quieter right now than during the boom
• the purpose for the Bakken blog was to help me understand the Bakken better; that goal has been achieved to a large extent
• remember, the "Bakken" is three things to me
• the geological footprint
• the public-private partnership developed in North Dakota that was vital for the boom to succeed
• the metonym: the "Bakken" is a metonym for the US onshore fracking industry, as mostly related to crude oil; I'm not sure if there is a different metonym for the US onshore fracking industry mostly related to natural gas
• I generally don't post updates on DAPL; for now, it's dead
• I love to "connect dots"
• music often keeps me going
• there will be fewer and fewer items related to the Obama administration; I've already removed the countdown; removed other links from the sidebar; the Obama story is now shifting to the Trump story
• there will be fewer and fewer items related to global warming / climate change
• items on the Mideast? I don't know
• short term: the shift to a Trump presidency
• little interest in political infighting
• little interest in healthcare
• little interest in trade war stories
• very interested in immigration stories, but won't post much on them
• still interested in "tectonic changes" in practical (not theoretical) technology 
• may return to my roots with more stories on North Dakota pride 
• I'm really excited to see what the "Fargo guy" and the ex-Watford City mayor have in store for North Dakota as governor-elect and lt-gov-elect
• perhaps more on books I am reading, again to help me put the Trump revolution in perspective

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Immediately In Front Of Me

I will take a break from blogging to peruse the following for a few hours.

• The November 14, 2016 issue of The New Yorker -- the first since the election; the front cover is priceless. I can't wait to read "The Talk Of The Town"
• The Witches: Salem, 1692, Stacy Schiff, c. 2015, DDS: 974.4SCh
• The Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill, Candice Millard, c. 2016; DDS: 968MIL
• The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America, Susan Faludi, c. 2007, DDS: 306.2FAL

I started reading The Witches at the library in September, 2016. Sometime in October it was no longer on the shelves at either of the two libraries where I read. But now that Halloween has passed, I see that Witches is back on the shelves in one of the libraries.

Faludi's book has a section on the Salem witch trials; that's the reason for that book. Along that line I want to read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States but it's not at this library; it will be at the other library.

The Roanoke book I was reading has been checked out I will replace it with the Winston Churchill book until the Roanoke book shows up again.

So, The New Yorker:

• so-so issue
• no Trump cartoons
• Jeffrey Toobin in "Talk of the Town" still does not "get it" and that's why I will now love The New Yorker and may even re-subscribe; I cancelled my subscription earlier this year due to it becoming nothing more than a mouthpiece for Hillary
• the cartoons were okay, but not up to The New Yorker standard
• perhaps the best snippet (The New Yorker used to do a lot of these fillers; now they are as rare as hen's teeth):

"Walmart has recalled a donkey meat product from some Chinese stores after tests found it had traces of fox meat, the retailer said Thursday."